Thursday 10 December 2009

DP1 Presentation

Yay, so ive JUST finished perfecting this DP1 Presentation for Midday!
Now that all the slides are made, im going to need to start making my notes, and getting together the last of the files for the DVD.

So im pretty pleased with how this first term has turned out!
Ive made 3 good pieces that I am very proud of and it will certainly be great fun when I present in a few hours time.





BRING IT ON!

Youtube Upload

Lol, i made some new edits in Premier..

Its going to take 6 hours to upload my movie....


And to Peyman, yeah i had to rechedule because im not here from friday evening. =)

PRESENTATION 11th Dec

My presentation is tomorrow at 12:10.

It's now 19:00.
Im going out at 21:00.
Get Home: 03:00
WORK MY ASS OFF till: 10:00

Its the XMAS PArty tonight...and I still have to make, refine and practice this presentation.
Ive also got to make this DVD.

I better start.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Note Pixilation

I REALLY dont even have enough time to write this up at the moment...
So here it is:

EDIT: CURRENTLY MAKING ANOTHER VERSION ON PREMIER

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Madness

So ive been working like a MAD MAN since the early hours of Monday morning to finish this work!

I made a great start to the essay, and after 12 hours of work on it over the past 2 days ive finally sent off a first draft to Jools to check out!

Now turning my attention to the presentation, I have to plan and complete the 12minute talk AND finish the 3 projects in basically 2 days...

BAD TIMES....But i THRIVE under pressure...so BRING IT...although my one shot short and flash narratives are complete (So its not too bad)

Here is an image from the Pixilation piece I am currently working on:

















Im currently waiting on the Batch photoshop edits and filters to complete its cycle, so stay tuned!

Friday 4 December 2009

Pixilationnnnnnnn

So we started the 3rd project, Pixilation, last week and we were tasked in groups to go away and practice the technique. My group headed out to the arboretum and shot some of the footage you can see in the movie below.

Alongside the origami piece I made a few days ago, the movie also includes some short test pieces I did as further practice at home. I wanted to try out a few techniques before i shot my final piece:

This time, further from just the original photographs we were shown how to batch process a large number of images in photoshop. I created a macro for most of the images below to change various aspects of their colour and tone etc. Ive noticed however, that some of the effects I applied can not been seen very well using the export settings I chose. HOWEVER, I am still to learn how to import all the content into Adobe Premier as at the moment, I am making do with iMovie. =)



Right...so while this 28MB video is uploading to Blogger, here are a few other Pixilation videos i have found that inspired me to create something above the norm:

Western Spaghetti by PES


The pinnacle of Pixilation...this movie has won countless awards, and is definitely worth checking out!
Alongside this, I found an Xbox Live advertisement that used the technique throughout using clay models and a human sculptor - This really is AMAZING!!

XBOX Clay


Brilliant, Movie loaded!

Tuesday 1 December 2009

OMG This Essay!

Procrastination

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Procrastination refers to the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite this human behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting and/or completing any task or decision. [1] Psychology researchers use three criteria to categorize procrastination: for a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.[2]


I really need to sort this out.....

Monday 30 November 2009

Pixilation Test!

So I've done a lot of work today...

Here is a test pixilation piece I've just made. It shows you how to create an Origami ball!
Took me a GOOD FEW HOURS, but I'm not very happy with the lighting as you cant see some of the more complicated folds!

Haha, it probably doesn't help that I'm wearing a white top either..but I've definitely impressed myself here! Enjoy!:



This was A LOT of fun!

My NARRATIVE!!

I just HAD to get this out of the way...!!!!!

Wow....so i got bored towards the end of this....as you can tell...but im still pretty happy with the result.
One thing I will be adding however is a load bar at the beginning so people know whats happening...rather than staring at a blank white screen.

Enjoy!:


Halo Interactive Narrative by ~iiNote on deviantART

WOOP! Only just uploaded this and 2 people have added it as a favourite on DA! - WELL pleased!

I/N Images

Just finished this Image for my Narrative Project.
2 LEFT!!!!!














UPDATE:
Yay! Ive just finished another Image! 1 LEFT!!!! (ish)

Pixilation

I'll write these up later, but check them out!:

Guinness new ad - A Short Film Called Hands

HANDS

ORGANISATION!

So I need to get myself organised again!
As I still need to complete my Interactive Narrative, ive set a deadline for tomorrow at 18:00!

Here is going to be my schedule for the week:

Interactive Narrative Complete and Uploaded: Tuesday 1st December (18:00)
Write the Intro to the Essay: Tuesday 1st December
Pixilation Tests: Thursday 3rd December
First Draft of Essay: Friday 4th December

Hehe, just thought i would include this image that a friend created of me - as a test for his Interactive Narrative!
I love it! It was done by Simon Newbold, so be sure to check out his blog here!



Stay tuned...Im off to finish my Narrative!

Further Inspriation

Okay, so apart from Mallet Girl, which i mentioned at the start of the project for her awesome comic style...I also found another piece of work from last year called:

The Adventures of Hairlock Holmes:













I really like how simplistic and clean the animation looks!

This was done by Kane Pickerill, check out his blog here.

Back on IT!!!

WHAT have i been playing at!!!???

Right, so for some reason ive been neglecting this blog for the past 3 weeks...and I dont know what ive been playing at...
Now I have to go back over all the work ive done and document it!

So i became pretty engrosed in this Interactive Narrative Project, and I was working on it for a solid 2 weeks. Here are some of the images I created for the work:

I decided pretty early on that I was not going to create something mediocre, so I began some heavy research and testing into basic animation techniques such as motion and classic tweens. (Ive worked entirely on Flash CS4, so the features available are slightly different)

I was also able to learn a lot of features involving the user being able to input text, being able to save this as a variable, and displaying it later on in the timeline. HOWever, to enable this witihn my own piece I would have needed to use AS2, whereas the code we were given for buttons to switch to various screens was based off AS3!

Was nice to learn about it though!


As i progressed through the project, and as you work your way through the narrative you can easily notice how much I have improved.
My continual use and submergence with flash allowed me to create more complicated animations and at the same time my drawings also improved.
(Each image took me almost 2 HOURS each!)

But hopefully it will all be worth it! =)

Thursday 12 November 2009

The Worst Website

Okay so after finding some nice examples of web design that i liked, I needed to find one that I didn't.
Genicap
is that site!:

Apparently they have a pretty nice plugin for photoshop:

"Supergraphx for Photoshop is a set of two powerful plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop. Combine the power of Photoshop and Supergraphx to produce unseen colorful additions to your images. Application ranges from simple creation of natural shapes to the invention of logos or any other task requiring a great deal of creativity"

However, after searching thier site for a good 5-10minutes I cant find anything!

The whole design is so confusing...the opening splash page tells you nothing about the company or even WHAT the links are about. For a large company, in my opinion the navigation is poor, and the standard viewer would have absolutely no idea WHAT the site was even about.

Sunday 8 November 2009

Flash Narrative Test

UPDATE 09/11/09
FURTHER Experimentation with transitions and Interaction in Flash Cs4!:



This is getting Easier! =) Interactive Narrative Test 2 by ~iiNote on deviantART

Right...so I couldnt just stop working...
Here is another test piece I have made to practice the comic style of 'Mallet Girl'.
This time it combines the motion and classic tweens with the narrative style required for the project. Enjoy!:


Flash Test by ~iiNote on deviantART

A comment on Deviantart would be AWESOME guys! =)

Now that I have been introduced to flash, it has made me aware of all the benefits it can bring to my website design. Having this sort of interaction within a webpage would be a massive improvement to my current work!

Flash Experimentation

Okay, so this has put an end to todays work...as im getting tired...and pretty bored of my computer screen.
BUT, I would like to introduce you to my FIRST EVER Flash Movie!
As you can see from the screenshot, ive used various layers, motion tweens and classic tweens to create the short 'test piece'.


HUGE Thanks to Tutvids youtube tutorials!

Enjoy! =)

Ps. Its looped a few times because I exported it as a 6 second movie...cant be bothered to go back and change it now. =)

EDIT!
Yeah, so it hasnt come out how it looks on the program! (0_o)
It's still very 'jut jut juttery' which means next time I will have to play around with the export settings, and actually take into account and consider the ammount of frames. It ALSO looks pretty rough to be honest, as images seem to have 'jumped' out of alighment etc...HOWEVER, i am still pleased with it as a first flash attempt!



I can see how with more time, I could actually create something pretty cool.

Site Storyboarding and Design

Another really informative article, this time found on webdesignermag.co.uk:
















Site Storyboarding and Design

This Article outlines the 11 steps recommended to a website designer when starting a new project.

As i disovered from literally the first paragraph, i was one of the many who would make the usual mistakes:

"it’s always very tempting to jump straight into creating visual mockups, defining navigation placement and colour schemes. This can work occasionally, and definitely adds a freshness to the final design, but as an approach it’s full of risks."

If your intersted in website design, then be sure to check this out!

Saturday 7 November 2009

Flash CS4 + Interactive Narrative!

Right!, so on Friday we were given the 'low down' on our new project!
Interactive Narrative!

After going through the lecture notes, we were shown some of the narratives from the previous group, as well as some of the better work by 3rd year students.
Mallet Girl was a piece done by Hayley Jennings in her first year; CHECK HER BLOG

What i love about this narrative is the comic book style. It adds something different to the standard template provided to us and would most definitely stand out within a group for orginality and a LOT of hard work.

It is something similar to this that i would hope to create in the upcoming 3 weeks. As i have never used Adobe Flash before, it will be a challenge yet hopefully something that I can really get to grips with!

Also check out the Interactive Narritive by Peyman Salehi! - For a first timer, its Pretty Awesome!
MY FLAT MATES

So the brief was that the story could literally be based on Anything!

Still exceptionally impressed by the Modern Warfare shorts, today i considered a Halo themed narrative...where the objective and aim is search and destroy! After purchasing my Wacom Tablet, ive been attempting to draw what i can using pen and paper, with a stylus and tablet. (And to be honest, it is SO difficult!)

Following on from the sketchy style used in the warfare shorts, ive created two images that could potentially be used within my narrative. I am however still VERY unsure about the whole idea...so will almost certainly be brainstorming more at a later date. =)

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Inspirational Design

So, as someone who is interested in website design, these two sites really show the sort of work that I would like to produce in the future!
http://www.siebennull.com/
http://www.trippingwords.com/

Both sites have a 'scrap book' style that i really like. The content seems to be streamed all over the page, however it is done in a smart and funky way that definitely seems to work!

Alongside the website deigns, someone who I have mentioned before for thier work in illustration and digital colouring is Shirotsuki(Be sure to check out her work!)..who i found on deviantart:


Monday 2 November 2009

Northern Design Competition!

Okay, so ive just registered for the Northern Design Competition!





Guys, CLICK HERE to Register!!

"
Entry opens soon and you will be notified by email when this happens. All entries must be submitted by Friday 23rd April 2010 to be eligible to win. You can also follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook Page to stay up to date with competition news."

LETS DO THIS!

Friday 30 October 2009

The Design Processes

So the lecture on the 27th gave us an understanding of the four design processes you go through when working on a project. These are Discovering, Developing, Defining and Delivering!
Following, you can see where and how each of these were used within the one shot short project:

DISCOVER
We all sat down at the beginning of the task and brainstormed all of our initial ideas and insights. Alongside this, we looked at some of the work made from students the previous year, as well as articles and other movies we could find on the internet.
Not so much a factor within this project, but also one to consider is the users...as you will need to identify and understand the needs and capabilities of the users.

DEVELOP
The next stage was to begin pick and choosing the best ideas from 'Discover.' Selecting specific ideas, we bought them together and formed plot concepts and small 'prototype movies'...Im our case, a small test to see whether a first person as oppsoed to a third person viewpoint would work.

DEFINE
Actually testing the theories and concepts that we came up with is part of defining the design. As this was a one shot film, there was initially a lot of planning as to how the camera will move throughout the film. Actually REFINING the idea and camera flow happens here, as well as any further additions or improvements.
User testing and feedback is also part of the stage. Product design and website design are great examples of where this is needed.

DELIVER
Delivering the design is the final stage, and one where you can look back at your original assesment criteria to see if it has been a success. Evaluations may include how 'Effective' the movie is at portraying its message and the 'Impact' it creates!

One Shot Short Edit


Right, so we uploaded our one shot short today after some preliminary edit work!
A short made to market the iphone...its over the 1minute minimum at 2minutes, with the camera remaining on the tripod at all times (a restriction given to us by the teaching staff).

The movie can be seen on youtube:

AppleEdit

Photoshop Art (Sketch Test)

Okay so i was casually spying on some of the other blogs from the people in my year. I came across the following video by Andrew Georgiades - Check out his blog here.

The Duty: Modern Warfare Short 2 By ONE

I really liked the sketchy style of the characters within the short...So...i thought i would give it a shot myself:




Im very pleased with the results! Working straight from a printed photograph, I used my wacom tablet to add the lines and colour.



I really like the sketchy effect, will definately give this method a second try with a new object / theme!

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Adobe Premiere


Okay, so today was the last day of the one shot module for design practice 1.
After we had shot the movie last week, all that was left was to edit the piece. As there were various limitations to the actual shoot, we were also limited to the type of editing that we were allowed to do. The main focus within my group was to add in a new soundtrack and perhaps a voice over.
We also wanted to try and add some graphics onto a white surface.

We are working with Adobe Premiere from the creative suite to edit the movie.

Thursday 22 October 2009

X06: The Future of Storytelling Panel



Last night i watched The Future of Storytelling video on the Team Xbox Website:




X06: The Future of Storytelling Panel

Personally i found the conference to be very informative as it raised some exciting ideas about the use of cut scenes and story incorporation within current and upcoming games.
The aim is to create a story that can actively engage the player rather than the usual pre-recorded, long, laborious, complicated cut scenes! This could be achieved through the players choices during game play rather than a set narrative.

As games are also now being designed to be 'beaten', and completed, there was discussion about two modes of gameplay; Pure gameplay for the 'pro gamers', and a more story based mode for enthusiasts.

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Wireframing Your Website!

So I'm interested in website design! I Was recently forwarded to:

35 Excellent Wireframing Resources

As i had never even heard of wireframing before, there were some very interesting articles ...check it out:


"Wireframing is one of the most valuable parts of any web design project. It can save a designer tons of time by hashing out the details of a site’s architecture, functionality, and content prior to actually starting a visual design. But if done inefficiently, it can end up costing more time and can even create bigger headaches for both the client and the designer."

Wacom Bamboo!!


Wow!, so I just bought the Wacom Bamboo for a discounted price at PC World!
I think this is, and will remain for quite some time, one of the best purchases i have EVER made!
Being able to sketch directly onto the screen, rather than uploading / scanning pencil edited 'doodles' is a BLESSING!
My illustrations have just been blown WIDE OPEN from this tablet its unbelievable!

So yeah, I'm pretty pleased! =)
The image featured is from a deviant art gallery by Shirotsuki - a person i have long admired for thier digital painting technique! Watch out, ive got a tablet now as well! =)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday 19 October 2009

Design Competitions


Alright! It was suggested that we went away and did a little research on the competitions available to designers.
I found a website; Computer Arts, that outlines the 10 Best Design Competitions:

Although these are good, there are not a lot that are specific for students....so ill have another look at some point.

Stop Motion Bunny Test 1

Okay, so asides from the library talk this morning and getting together with my group regarding the one shot film task...ive been at home for most of the day.

Thought i would give the whiteboard stop animation method a go (with my brand new mini whiteboard) and see what happened!!...

So everyone, meet Test Bunny 1:



"So i was pretty pleased with the results, UNTIL....i realised that the image was mirrored and the LETTERS DIDN'T COME OUT RIGHT...

AND that the program i was using had limitations on the fastest FRAME RATE!!!"

BUT i guess that's EXACTLY what a test run is for.
Hence also why it is unfinished.

Movie took me a couple of hours, but ive learnt a lot...so stay tuned for more from Test Bunny!!!

Saturday 17 October 2009

ONE Shot (Short) Film!

Design Practice 1 : One Shot (Chris Cooke) Group 1

Overview and Aims:
The module provides an introduction to multimedia design practice. It does so through requiring you to explore formal compositional issues through experimentation and revision.
The module enables you to experiment with a range of media and communication and structural devices. It requires that you develop solutions for design problems through negotiating technical, aesthetic and conceptual concerns.

So this was the first lecture of many on Design Practice 1.
This one shot short was found on youtube, a 3:47 fight scene:

Tony Jaa One Shot


Alongside shorts, entire movies have been made from only one shot - Russian Ark.

EDIT: Just found the One Shot Film Festival <- CHECK IT OUT!


Stop Motion ANIMATION!

Okay, so this was an exercise that was part of the Multimedia induction week.
It gave most of us the opportunity to meet the new people that we would be studying with, as well as (for me a least) try out a new discipline.

Hence; the STOP MOTION blog write up:

So we all began by watching the following clip:

Minilogue/hitchhikers choice - short version (Longer on DVD)

This was the basis of what we were going to aim to create during the following 3 hour session, and also potentially in your own time.

The Task: Move the box from one side of the house to the other:


Step 1) We Brainstormed!!!!
This was such an exciting time, as we all came together and shared ideas and thoughts on how we thought the box could, run, walk, fly, mutate and morph over to the other side.

Step 2) We Doodled!!!

Step 3) We took a photograph after every change to the drawing.

Step 4) 120 photgraphs, 2 pens, and 5 exhausted group members later we made our movie!!!::::


EDIT: I have since bought my own whiteboard to test out the method myself! Fingers crossed for my own test movie - COMING SOON!

EDIT: Here is the collection of animations made by my year:



Tuesday 6 October 2009

Blender!

Okay, lets get this ball rolling!
First post, of the first ever blog...so one of the lecturers mentioned Blender during the intro talk.
I thought i would check out some of its potential:


















I think this is awesome!!!